Someone call the mental hospital. A new patient is at the ready.
“Roxanne…” The clomp of Eddie’s flip-flops on the wet ground irks my last nerve. “I wanted tonight to be special. Why do you think I bought you flowers?”
By special, he means he wants to slide to the home plate by doing something as simple as purchasing a bunch of gas station flowers. If he purchased them. I wouldn’t put it past him to steal them. That’s how cheap he is.
Too angry to let his bad taste slide, I say, “You left the price tag on the flowers, Ed. For future reference, $3.99 won’t get you close to home plate.” I let out a soundless whine before spinning around to face him. “Even if you did pay for them, which I’m highly skeptical about, I forked out fifteen dollars for your movie ticket, so if we’re counting merit points, I’m coming out of this date shortchanged, not you.”
“I tried to even the score.” He slants his head so the moonlight can catch the speckles of yellow in his brown eyes. I’m a sucker for the uniqueness of his golden eyes. “But you weren’t into it like you were last time.”
If I were an honest, upstanding member of society, I’d tell him my lack of interest isn’t his fault, it’s the fact the mysterious stranger’s watchful gawk was missing, but sadly, I’m not just a horrible person. I’m beginning to wonder if there’s more wrong with me than an inclination for getting freaky in public.
“This isn’t working, Eddie. I need…” A guy who doesn’t wear flip-flops and holey jeans on a date. Someone with hair darker than yours and eyes full of trouble. I need anyone but you. “… to concentrate on my studies. If I lose my scholarship, I’ll be stuck in our horrid town along with all the other geriatrics for the rest of my life.”
Proof he doesn’t know me at all shines through when Eddie replies, “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Our families have lived in this region for decades—”
“Yet I haven’t seen my parents in years. This isn’t the life I want, Eddie. I want—”
“A stranger’s gawk so you can come?”
I don’t breathe for a good eight seconds. I had no clue he spotted the dark-haired man’s stare three months ago.
None whatsoever.
“I don’t need anyone to watch. I just—” I stop talking, having no plausible way to say I only want one man’s gawk without making it seem as if I’m certifiably insane. I could barely see the stranger’s face, yet here I am, basing all my hopes and dreams on him. “Can you please take me home? We’ll talk more about this tomorrow, I promise. I’m just tired and hormonal, that’s all.”
“All right, I’ll take you home.” Eddie digs his keys out of his dirty jeans to authenticate his pledge. “After you answer one question.” Although I can see in his eyes it will be a doozy, I dip my chin, agreeing to his request. “Did you orgasm because of what I was doing or because he was watching?”
My heart sinks as quickly as my mood. “Eddie—”
He cuts me off with a stern glare, reading me better than he should considering he doesn’t know me at all. “As I thought. You’re nothing but a gutter rat.”
“Excuse me?” I snap back in shock. “You’re expecting to hook up in an alleyway. If that makes anyone ratty, that’ll be you, Mr. Cheapskate.”
After rolling his eyes with an immaturity you’d expect from a man with no class, he cranks open the driver’s side door of his car, then slides inside.
My brows stitch when I attempt to mimic his movements. The passenger side door is locked, and he isn’t leaning over to undo the latch.
“Eddie…” my words trail off for the second time when he plants his foot on the gas pedal. “Are you kidding me? It’s late, and we’re miles from home!”
When he continues rocketing toward the lot’s only exit, I pick up the first thing I see and peg it at his car. My throat works hard to swallow when my swing is better than expected. The can of soup I thought was empty doesn’t just smack into the rear window of his outdated ride, it smashes right through it.
It must have been as jam-packed as my anger.
I block the blinding rays of Eddie’s headlights with my hand when he dangerously executes a U-turn. When he revs his engine like a deranged man, a normal person would run into the safety of the alleyway. My efforts three months ago reveal I’m nothing close to ordinary. I watch his approach with wide, terrified eyes, only blinking when the bumper of his car buckles my legs out from underneath me.
My body’s grotesque impact with the front window of his car causes as much damage as the can of soup did to the rear window. It cracks into a million pieces, sprinkling both mine and Eddie’s hair with shards of glass.
I think the worst is over—I can’t feel the lower half of my body, so how much worse can it get—but realize things are never easy for me.
With his narrowed eyes revealing how worthless he thinks I am, Eddie throws his gearshift into reverse before he whizzes back at a speed too quick for me to remain on his hood.
I fall to the ground with a thud, breaking more than my pride.
I also crack my head.
Chapter Six
Dimitri
Justine’s eyes float up to mine when I order our meal in my native tongue. Although displeased I didn’t ask what she’d like to eat or drink as I did our previous two dates, she’s too shocked about me requesting a bottle of the most expensive wine to announce her annoyance.
I had wondered if she understood Italian when I took a call during our drive from her dormitory to this restaurant but played it off as inquisitiveness. I know better now. If the clipped tone I used on the waiter was a test, Justine just nose-bombed the finals.
Things are tense between us tonight. I guess that can be expected. Most of the women I bedded before Audrey had a three-date rule. Although it took me longer to convince Justine to discount her brothers’ multiple warnings to stay away from me, tonight is technically our third date. It doesn’t mean anything, though. I’m not looking to hook up. I just want my rivals to think I am.
While handing our menus to the waiter, confident Justine won’t have the gall to go against me, I say in Italian, “I can order you something else if you’d prefer?”
Under normal circumstances, my pigheadedness would occur in private. Regretfully for Justine, I need it to be as apparent as possible. A bursting-at-the-seams restaurant in her hometown would have been ideal, but since I’m testing both Maddox’s loyalty and those who share my blood, I altered our plans last minute. My family’s restaurant will still have the effect I’m aiming for, just minus the glaring heat of Justine’s brothers from across the room.
Usually, the fervor wouldn’t bother me, however the past three months have been some of the longest in my life. The strain is prominent on both my face and my demeanor.
After Maddox left my warehouse minus a bullet wound, I was hit by one shitstorm after another. The gap in my dating schedule with Justine saw Fien’s ransom requests returned to their original amounts. My father’s wish to keep Miceli out of his realm resulted in four Arabian tycoons canceling their ‘work’ trips to my side of the globe this quarter, and Tobias’s unusual quiet had nothing to do with him being forced to intervene on my ‘conversation’ with Maddox. It was because he was killed during a rogue operation two and a half months ago. The same operation he assured me would see Fien freed from captivity.